Peanut Tracker: 3 Week Update- Hot & Cold & In Between

4 weeks old!

3 weeks have flown by and I can't believe my little peanut is already 4 weeks old! I cherish every moment I get to spend with her. Even those moments I want to pull my hair out. And there have been several of those moments this past week!

The week was a week of trial and error! Charlee started having fussy nights and Eric and I were left to try to figure out what was causing her discomfort. On Monday she would cry herself to sleep, sleep for an hour, then wake herself up again. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. She kept trying to nurse, so I followed her lead and let her nurse when she wanted. After hours of cluster feeding, rocking her, walking around with her, and bicycling her legs and massaging her tummy for gas, I felt like I was losing it by 9pm. Eric suggested trying gripe water in case it was gas. It was a liquid miracle! After another 30 minutes or so she settled down and didn't give me too many problems the rest of the night.

Loving music and lights on swing

She fussed again all day and night Tuesday, but nothing seemed to help her except holding her and rocking her in the recliner. If I put her down or stopped rocking, she screamed. So, Eric went out and bought her a cradle swing. That was truly a miracle! I put her in the swing  and she slept for almost 4 hours straight!

Bonding with daddy

By Thursday night I was exhausted from keeping up with her all week, so Eric and I decided to try giving her a bottle for the first time. I went to bed and had to fight the urge to come out of the bedroom when she woke up crying and hungry. However, Eric gave her the bottle without a problem. Then he took her for a car ride and she slept for 5 hours! Luckily she didn't have any trouble with nursing after the bottle, so we did that again Friday and Saturday nights so I could get some rest.

She would only sleep in my arms

Eric and I came down with a pretty nasty cold over the weekend. On top of a fussy baby and not being able to sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time (despite the fact that my baby was sleeping 4-5), I was burning a fever and feeling miserable. Thankfully Eric was willing to help out so I got some rest and am now feeling much better.

First time in her crib!

We also had two other firsts this week. We gave Charlee her first bath in the bathroom (in her baby tub, of course). She handled this weeks bath much better than previous baths. But she still cried until it was time to rub lotion on her! I also brought her upstairs to her nursery for the first time. She wasn't feeling very well at the time and after 5 minutes in her crib, she was screaming. I tried rocking her in the rocking chair, but she wasn't having that either. So, I brought her downstairs and will have to try again after the holiday.

Evil look and middle finger?! Lol

Her 'I am not amused' face

She is getting better at tummy time every day and her head control is ridiculously good. She has been able to lift her head up since the day she was born, but now she lifts it during tummy time and rarely puts it down. She holds it up when she's nursing and looks around all the time. She's also making strong efforts to roll over during tummy time. She definitely has a while until she will be able to do it, but it's cute to watch her try!

Peanut Tracker: 2 Week Update- Returning to "Normal"

After two amazing weeks of having Eric all to ourselves, he finally had to return to work last Sunday night and Charlee and I were forced to find the new "normal" in our routine.

2 weeks old and smiley!

Cuddle time with daddy!

Our first night alone wasn't too bad. Charlee nursed on a regular schedule and she even let me "sleep" in between feedings. I say "sleep" because I was so nervous being alone with her for the first time that I kept waking up every 20 minutes to make sure she was okay! When Eric came home after 8am, he grabbed his baby girl and cuddled with her until we had to leave for her follow up appointment. The doctor was so pleased with her weight gain (9 lbs 6 oz--finally over her birth weight) and growth (21.75 inches), that she said we could cancel our 2 week appointment that was scheduled for Friday. Her next appointment will be her 2 month appointment and her next round of shots. We had to schedule it for early December due to the holidays and Eric's schedule (because I don't think I can handle taking her to that appointment by myself).

I finally weighed myself on Monday afternoon and was elated to find out that, because almost all of my swelling is gone, I only have 9 lbs to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight. I will probably have to lose an additional 10 lbs to be the same size as I was before Charlee, but seeing the number on the scale made me happy!

Ready for her first walk!

Tuesday was election day. So, after some epic cluster-feeding from 5-8:30am, Charlee and I made sure to be ready when Eric got home from work. The polls were jam packed, so we ended up waiting a while before leaving for our polling place. When we got there, the number of people was still out of control. Because we had a newborn and didn't want her out of the vehicle and around all of those people, we decided we would just have to leave. We were both sad to miss our chance to vote, but it was what was best for our baby girl! That afternoon I tried to take her for her first walk. I bundled her up because it was a little cool, loaded up the stroller, and out I went. I only made it halfway around the neighborhood and I had to turn back because I could feel pulling in my incision. It's so hard to remember that I only had major surgery a couple of weeks ago!

First real bath!

Drying off in the towel from Granny

Wednesday was a day I was looking forward to for weeks. Since Charlee's umbilical cord stump had fallen off and the doctor took care of the little bit that remained on Monday, we could finally give the peanut her first real bath in preparation for her photo session that evening. It was a two-man job! I filled the tiny tub and used her fireman ducky to test the water temperature. Eric helped get supplies and filmed the event. Charlee did NOT like her first bath. She screamed and cried so much that the cats were circling and crying, thinking that we were hurting her (the cats are very protective). Charlee did seem to enjoy the part where I massaged lotion onto her after the bath though! That evening the photographer came to take our pictures. Eric and I took a few with her outside in our neighborhood. It was too cold to stay outside very long, so we kept it short and sweet and then came back in for some pictures of just Charlee. There were several wardrobe changes and a lot of fussy moments (I even gave in and let her have a pacifier which is something I have been  100% against because I don't want to cause nipple confusion), but she did well considering! It will be another week or so before we get the proofs back and I cannot wait to see them!!!

But a really cute monster!

This week Eric and I also came up with another nickname for the baby. It may not be the nicest nickname, but it's funny to us. We call her Monster. The reason is because when she sleeps, and especially when she is waking up or about to start nursing, she makes the scariest noises. One of which is a very distinct "Rawr" sound. It's scary and cute at the same time!

Our Seminole baby is Tebowing

Thursday night marks the first Florida State football game that baby Charlee watched. Thank goodness the Seminoles beat the Hokies or I would have had to pretend she never watched it...We also found out that my dad and younger brother will be coming to meet Charlee at the end of the month. I am so excited to see them because it's been 3 years since our last visit!

Friday marked another big day in Charlee's world: her "cousin" Mackenzie was finally born! She is simply gorgeous and I am so proud of my best friend for everything she went through to bring her daughter into the world. We went to visit them at the hospital on Saturday, but Charlee wasn't allowed back into Labor & Delivery, so she sat in the waiting room with Eric and uncle Brian while I visited with Malory and Mackenzie. I cannot wait for those little girls to meet for the first time!

Daddy loves his baby girl!

Things are starting to get easier as Charlee continues nursing and getting on a more regular sleep schedule. Eric and I have been playing with her and giving her lots of tummy time and cuddles. She is very alert and curious. She follows the lights on her bouncer chair, responds to faces, and looks for Granny, Papa, Grammie, and Grampie when we Face Time with them. She is holding her head up even more than when she was first born and can even get into a push up position when she's doing tummy time! Today she was wiggling around like she wanted to crawl. Too bad the poor kid has a while before that will be possible!

Nap time on mommy

Lazy Sunday outfit!

Last night and today was by far one of the best times we've had so far. Charlee let me sleep for 8 hours, separated by 1 hour feedings every 2 1/2 hours. She even let me take 2 naps throughout the day! She has been nursing well and in a great mood. It has been a great day after learning that another friend finally had her son today and he is absolutely perfect!

Let's hope this week goes as well as the past couple days!

Peanut Tracker: 1 Week Update- Growing Up Too Fast

Mommy cuddle time POV

Charlee may only be turning 2 weeks old tomorrow, but time is already going by way too fast! She doesn't even look like a newborn anymore and she has been through several changes this week. And there has been quite a bit of excitement going on in this house all week long.

My little ducky

Kirk drove down from Florida over the weekend to pick up my mom. On Monday my mom worked on last minute errands around the house until Kirk came down stairs looking ill. He was really pale and had been sleeping most of the day (very unusual). I suggested he stop to get his blood pressure checked when he went out to pick up a few things. He came home saying it was a little high and then started getting sick. I finally talked him into going to the ER because he could be having a serious issue. Thankfully it was just a stomach bug and my mom and I sent him to bed once they came back home. They left Tuesday morning and it was just Eric, me, and Charlee for the first time.

Pirate onesie for Halloween

Wednesday was Halloween and my one week follow up. Our appointment was at 2:45, so I woke up a sleepy fiance and we loaded up the car. I asked Eric to keep Charlee in the truck because it was supposed to be a short appointment and I didn't want her in the waiting room during cold and flu season. I waited over an hour to be seen and made friends with another new mom in the waiting room. We waited so long that I had to request a room to nurse the peanut and had Eric bring her in. My appointment was extremely short because Dr. Molly checked my incision and removed the stitches. I waited over 2 hours for a 5 minute appointment! I was only down 11 lbs because I was still extremely swollen and retaining fluids. The doctor said I was healing perfectly but she was worried about my swelling and ordered me to keep off my feet until the swelling went down. We didn't give out candy to the trick or treaters this year, but we did dress Charlee up in her pirate onesie and watched Hocus Pocus.

Wednesday night and Thursday night were tough nights. Charlee decided she didn't want to latch for nursing anymore and therefore wasn't eating. She would cry and cry and was extremely fussy. I felt like a failure as a mother and was extremely frustrated and tired. Poor Eric kept trying to calm me down and get me to stop crying, but I was so upset that I wasn't hearing what he had to say. Worry led Eric to call a lactation consultant and we scheduled an appointment for Friday evening. We ended up calling the pediatrician because she wasn't eating and were told to use a medicine syringe to feed her pumped milk until the consultant can work with us. By Friday morning she hadn't given us any wet or dirty diapers and I called the pediatrician again in a panic worried that she might be getting dehydrated. So, I cancelled the newborn photo session and we brought her back to the doctor. She was up to 9 lbs 4 oz, but the doctor said he did wish it was a little more. She wasn't sick or dehydrated, so we were encouraged to continue with the syringe until the consultant could help us and we scheduled a follow up for Monday morning.

Because we were both beyond exhausted from working as a team to feed the baby (Eric fed her and I had to pump every 2 hours Thursday afternoon through Friday evening), Eric's mom offered to come help us for the weekend. Since we don't have any family in the area to help, it was a god send! The lactation consultant helped us get Charlee nursing again, Ann helped with food and watching Charlee, and Eric and I got to catch up on sleeping and showering. It was amazing! I don't know how we would've survived the weekend without her. And because she has been here helping, I have been able to stay off my feet and most of my swelling has resided!

First time on play mat

First tummy time

Charlee also had a couple of milestones this week. We placed her on her play mat for the first time and she loved the mirror. She kept staring at it and hitting it with her hand, making the light reflect. Last night she lost her umbilical cord stump. We still aren't sure if it's an innie or an outie, but we're mostly thankful that it didn't smell. This morning we put her down on the play mat for her first tummy time and, even though she slept through most of it, she didn't mind being on her tummy! Charlee completed her first FaceTime with Grammy (my mom), and she was fed by daddy for the first (and several consecutive times) by the medicine syringe. She also met Gene and Jill because they were in town for their 25th anniversary cruise and stopped by for coffee and a short meet and greet with the peanut.

Swaddled by daddy

Cuddle time with daddy

Eric returns to work tonight and Ann will be going home. So, tonight will be the real test. It will be the first time I have ever really been alone with the baby and, as much as I am looking forward to it, I am also nervous. I hope she takes it easy on my first night!